And the winner is…San Francisco

This being awards seasons, it’s time for San Francisco to start gathering up honors again. And, to paraphrase actress Sally Field, they like us.

The latest award to come San Francisco’s way is from Zipcar, the international car-sharing corporation, which placed us at the top of its first-ever Future Metropolis Index, edging out Seattle and Washington (the nation’s capital, n0t the state).

According to Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith, who stopped by City Hall Monday afternoon to present the award to Mayor Ed Lee, the index identifies cities that are “great places to live, great places to work, great places to raise families.”

Rounding out the top 10 are Portland, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Denver, Pittsburgh and Austin, Tex. and San Diego (tied for 10th). San Jose finished 15th. Coincidentally, of the top 10 cities, nine have Zipcar operations. San Diego and Austin only have car-sharing on university campuses. Only Denver is Zipcar-less.

The index ranked the nation’s 36 largest cities in five categories: sustainability, innovation, vibrancy/creativity, efficiency and liveability/optimism. San Francisco ranked high in each category, but was at the top of the list in vibrancy/creativity, thanks in large part to the number of arts-related jobs and businesses and acres of park space. And though we only finished third in sustainability, we were given special recognition for having the largest percentage of hybrid cars.

We finished seventh in the innovation category, fifth in efficiency and fourth (tied with Philadelphia) in liveability/optimism.

The survey, conducted by KRC Research from July 2011-January – found that cities on the East and West coasts led the way, with western cities strongest in sustainability and eastern ones being the most efficient. El Paso was the most liveable city due to its low homicide and burglary rates, and Atlanta was the most innovative.

And while we could certainly quibble with some of those conclusions, hey, we won.